Law School Settles Case Of Sex Discrimination

A sex discrimination case filed six years ago by former Law School professor Clare Dalton was settled earlier this week when Harvard announced it would pay $260,000 to sponsor a new domestic violence institute at Northeastern University.

Harvard will pay the money to Northeastern over three years, with $80,000 set aside for Dalton's salary as executive director of the institute. The settlement was reached late Monday after a 10-hour negotiating session mediated by an official with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD).

Harvard continues to deny any gender discrimination in the Dalton case.

Dalton, now a tenured professor at Northeastern Law School, filed a complaint with the commission in 1987 after she was denied tenure at Harvard. The commission ruled last year that there was "probable cause" that she was discriminated against by Harvard.

Dalton said in an interview yesterday she feels the settlement is a "vindication" of her complaint of discrimination.

"It does signal that Harvard thought that it needed to do something to vindicate a wrong that was done to me," Dalton said.

Dalton's complaint stated that five men with lesser credentials were given tenure in the same year she was denied it. Dalton did not get the two-thirds vote of the faculty necessary for a tenure offer.

Law School Dean Robert C. Clark, however, said the resolution of the suit is in no way an admission of Law School fault.

"There was no trace of gender discrimination" in the Dalton tenure decision, he said. "I think we ultimately would have won."

Clark instead attributed the Law School's decision to settle to a need not to reopen old wounds.

"There was no point in dragging the faculty through an old battle," he said.

But a settlement seemed unlikely when attorneys and parties on both sides sat down to negotiate at 8 a.m. Monday morning. Without a settlement, Dalton's complaint would have been decided at a public hearing before a judge employed by the commission.

"The lawyers were fully prepared to do battle," said Nancy Gertner, a Boston attorney who represented Dalton. "It's a tribute to the mediator, who brought both sides together."

University Attorney Anne Taylor, who handled the case for Harvard, praised the settlement as "forward looking," but she also alleged that the commission made a finding of "probable cause" for Dalton last year without an adequate investigation. She said that Harvard had not discriminated against Dalton.

"The probable cause finding in this case was entered without any investigation by MCAD," Taylor said. "We're confident that if we had gone to a public hearing, we would have won a finding that says that."

Dalton yesterday said her case was strong, and suggested that Harvard discriminated against her for reasons beside her sex. While gender influenced the decision to deny her tenure, she said, her scholarly approaches were also relevant.

"I was the wrong kind of woman," she said.

Dalton said she is both "a critical theorist and a feminist theorist," and that in 1987 the school was split ideologically between traditional viewpoints, critical legal studies approaches and other methodologies. Harvard perhaps "has more trouble accepting nontraditional" research approaches, Dalton said.

Clark denies Dalton's research focus influencedthe 1987 tenure decision.

"I think it was a question of the quality of[Dalton's research]," not the focus, he said.

And while "some faculty think more highly ofcertain viewpoints," Clark said, tenure decisionsare based on the quality of scholarship.

"There's a...desire to get someone who doesfeminist law well," Clark said.

But other Law School professors interviewedlast night disagreed with Clark's assessment ofthe Dalton case. These professors said the LawSchool is still somewhat divided over gender andlegal ideological issues.

Harvard Law School today has the same number oftenured women as it did in 1987--four. Clark saidthe school has hired three new non-tenured womenprofessors recently.

Clark said the recruitment of female professorsis a "continuing objective and program" and thesituation is "getting better all the time."

But one professor interviewed last night oncondition of anonymity said "it has not improvedat all" for women at Harvard Law since Dalton'sdeparture.

"I think most people thought Clare would havewon," the professor said. "I think gender played aprominent role in it, as it does with manywomen... They like their women not outspoken."

The professor also said Harvard is not usuallyas welcoming to potential faculty members withalternative scholarly approaches, such as afeminist perspective.

Last year, feminist legal scholar CatherineMacKinnon failed to get the two-thirds votenecessary for a Harvard tenure offer.

But another Law School professor said thatwhile gender discrimination influenced the Daltoncase, ideological divides are slightly narrowerthan they once were.

"They've healed somewhat," the professor said."They occupy less of our time."

As for Dalton, she said she had no desire toreturn to Harvard. "I fit at Northeastern," shesaid

Clark denies Dalton's research focus influencedthe 1987 tenure decision.

"I think it was a question of the quality of[Dalton's research]," not the focus, he said.

And while "some faculty think more highly ofcertain viewpoints," Clark said, tenure decisionsare based on the quality of scholarship.

"There's a...desire to get someone who doesfeminist law well," Clark said.

But other Law School professors interviewedlast night disagreed with Clark's assessment ofthe Dalton case. These professors said the LawSchool is still somewhat divided over gender andlegal ideological issues.

Harvard Law School today has the same number oftenured women as it did in 1987--four. Clark saidthe school has hired three new non-tenured womenprofessors recently.

Clark said the recruitment of female professorsis a "continuing objective and program" and thesituation is "getting better all the time."

But one professor interviewed last night oncondition of anonymity said "it has not improvedat all" for women at Harvard Law since Dalton'sdeparture.

"I think most people thought Clare would havewon," the professor said. "I think gender played aprominent role in it, as it does with manywomen... They like their women not outspoken."

The professor also said Harvard is not usuallyas welcoming to potential faculty members withalternative scholarly approaches, such as afeminist perspective.

Last year, feminist legal scholar CatherineMacKinnon failed to get the two-thirds votenecessary for a Harvard tenure offer.

But another Law School professor said thatwhile gender discrimination influenced the Daltoncase, ideological divides are slightly narrowerthan they once were.

"They've healed somewhat," the professor said."They occupy less of our time."

As for Dalton, she said she had no desire toreturn to Harvard. "I fit at Northeastern," shesaid